Mongolia security chief freed in Germany: report
A top Mongolian security official extradited from Britain to Germany on suspicion of kidnapping a crime suspect has been freed from custody and may already have left the country, a German daily said Saturday.
Quoting his lawyers, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung said Bat Khurts, 42, a key figure in Mongolia's National Security Council, was freed a week ago after prosecutors lifted a custody order.
He was accused of kidnapping a Mongolian murder suspect and abducting him from Germany in May 2003.
Khurts was detained on a European arrest warrant issued by Germany when he flew into London on September 17 last year for meetings with British security officials.
He was ordered extradited to Germany by a British court in July, sparking anger in Ulan Bator, which accused Britain of luring Khurts to London to arrest him.
The arrest warrant issued by Germany alleged Khurts and three other members of the Mongolian secret service kidnapped and drugged Mongolian refugee Damiran Enkhbat in France in May 2003.
It claimed that Khurts drove a car carrying Enkhbat, wanted for the assassination of a Mongolian minister in 1998, to Brussels and then to the Mongolian consulate in Berlin, from where he was flown out to Ulan Bator.
Enkhbat was imprisoned until 2006 in Mongolia and died five days after his release from jail. His family blamed ill-treatment in prison.
© 2011 AFP
Quoting his lawyers, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung said Bat Khurts, 42, a key figure in Mongolia's National Security Council, was freed a week ago after prosecutors lifted a custody order.
He was accused of kidnapping a Mongolian murder suspect and abducting him from Germany in May 2003.
Khurts was detained on a European arrest warrant issued by Germany when he flew into London on September 17 last year for meetings with British security officials.
He was ordered extradited to Germany by a British court in July, sparking anger in Ulan Bator, which accused Britain of luring Khurts to London to arrest him.
The arrest warrant issued by Germany alleged Khurts and three other members of the Mongolian secret service kidnapped and drugged Mongolian refugee Damiran Enkhbat in France in May 2003.
It claimed that Khurts drove a car carrying Enkhbat, wanted for the assassination of a Mongolian minister in 1998, to Brussels and then to the Mongolian consulate in Berlin, from where he was flown out to Ulan Bator.
Enkhbat was imprisoned until 2006 in Mongolia and died five days after his release from jail. His family blamed ill-treatment in prison.
© 2011 AFP
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